water

Full-cost analysis (FCA) examines both complete direct i.e. capital and operating costs and indirect i.e. environmental, health and social costs of private and public investments.

FCA, many of whose methodologies are still being refined, is a much needed tool to enable companies and policymakers to accurately determine the true ROI of projects. It will hopefully end the free ride 'enjoyed' especially by highways, airports and sprawl.

I received an e-mail last week from Jim McGilligan, who has a degree in engineering from the University of Delware, who just came across this article on water and energy titled: "What is your water footprint?" published in the (Lafourche Parish, La.) Daily Comet. Written by Tom Rooney, president and CEO of SPG Solar in Novato, Calif the article is "the best I've ever seen" on this topic, Jim tells me.

The article raises the key points that we should consider water consumption and concern ourselves with the amounts of energy required to heat and cool water when looking at shrinking our carbon footprints i.e. 'water footprints'.

Green technologies companies, CNet News blogger Michael Kanellos said in a Tuesday posting, may face an uphill battle getting customers excited about their products because those products simply aren’t “sexy” enough.
Kanellos pointed out that solar and wind companies sell electricity-generating equipment… not exactly the most exciting thing around. Nor are new types of water filters or home biomass heating systems.
In other words, Kanellos suggested, the majority of green companies “sell commodities you need, but don't desire.”
That may be true, but then again maybe not.

The business world took “being green” seriously during 2007, not only by espousing environmentally friendly practices, but also by putting their money where there mouths are. Reuters reported that investments in green technology by businesses increased 44 percent (the same percentage increase as in 2006), to more than $5 billion, last year.
That number comes from Cleantech Group LLC, an organization whose members include venture capital firms, investment banks and other investors, Reuters said. The group also noted that venture investments in alternative energy during 2007 (for both North America and Europe) was $5.18 billion, up from $3.6 billion the year before.
Reuters listed – green market segments in order according to how much investment each received: energy generation, energy storage, energy efficiency, recycling & waste.

Thanks to all the readers of TMC’s green blog for supporting the Green Technology World conference taking place next week in Los Angeles, CA. Our attendance numbers are far ahead of where we thought they would be based on the limited time we had to market this event. We now expect up to 2,000 people to register for the show when all is said and done. In addition there may be some of you who don’t want to use a computer to register just so you can lower your carbon footprint.

Although air quality problems plague the world’s fastest-growing economy, China is doing what it can to have a true green Olympics. The city of Beijing plans 80 percent of buses and 70 percent of taxis will be fueled via clean energy by 2008.
As part of the efforts, 14 electric buses have been running on one bus route for two years in Beijing as a pilot project while 1,300 buses fueled by compressed gas have been put into operation.
Of the two million square meters of buildings used for the Olympics, 26.9 percent will be powered by clean energy like solar, wind and geothermal power, the ministry said.
The seven main stadiums in Beijing will be equipped with solar generators with a total capacity of 480 KW while 90 percent of the lighting outside the stadiums and hot water supply in the Olympics Village will be powered by solar energy.
Beijing will have its first wind power plant by the end of this year with a capacity of 50,000 KW, which will supply main stadiums.
While it will take a while to clean the air in China, the Olympics seem like a great catalyst to get the country moving in the green direction.

Here is a list of carbon footprint calculators. If you are interested, Nigel’s Eco Blog will be testing some of these over the next few weeks. I tried the BP calculator (Flash version) out and was pretty surprised at how large a footprint a single household can have. This is especially true as my business requires me to be on an airplane constantly.
Awareness is certainly something that will help reduce carbon emissions.